This looks great. It looks much bigger than the 55 I have. How long has the tank been up and running? I am impressed with the design you chose with the driftwood. Do you know what kind of wood it is? It is very pretty.

Thanks guys the tanks been running for over 3 years switching from planted tank to no plants just fish. Its been running as a planted tank now for 15days, As for the driftwood I got it a few years ago from some dude on ebay think it was Malaysian driftwood. Here are some new pictures of a week of growth also added a few cherry shrimp. As you can see there is some small amount of pearling just at the tops of the plants almost near the top of the water is this because I would need more watts to get pearling on hole plant?

Well guys new update just got my new lights from Catalina Aquarium t5ho solar 4x54 called up and got them for $180 anyway. Got them 2 days ago and when i opened the box the right side where the switches were the plastic was cracked, Also the black mesh on the top of the light was all scrapped up and some1 tryed to cover it up with a black sharpie marker. And last but not least the plastic legs that they sent me looked like they were hit with a heat gun :/. Anyway called them up and on Monday they will send me out a new one. .

Ok getting back to the journal Installed new surface skimmer, added 216watt t5ho solar lights, 4 ottos, 11 cardinal tetra. With this much light how many hours should I be leaving them on for at full 216watts and also the light is setting right on the tank with no legs so is that even higher watts going into the tank? I am still dosing kno3 1.5tsp, k2s04 1.5 tsp, kh2p04 pinch ever other day and also adding trace 3x a week and Iron. I am having problems with the blyxa japonica its kind of brown and don't see any new growth
also have some white things growing on my java moss sorry really couldn't get a good picture of it
Can't wait for the plants to grow so I can move things around here is a full tank shot Please give me feedback .

Dude! I need to slope my substrate. Your tank has so much more beauty/depth than my 55! :grrrr: I love the camboba. Is that the furcata you mentioned? (or how ever it is spelled) I want some!

My tip for pearling? Change a lot of water and snap a picture. Fake pearling at it's finest! Seriously, only way to get a lot of pearling is to up the co2, better distribution and lots of lights. But then you have to worry about the algae woes with lots of lighting. A cheap way to get pearling in your tank is to buy some weeds. Seriously, my parrots feather, limnophilia sessiflora pearls more than my ludwigia and blyxa. I am not sure why that is. Probably something that makes it invasive in certain places.

You got it Sweingalot I can send you some of the Cabomba Furcata, the tops of the plants are so pinkish red it would look great in your tank and it also grows like weeds for me I cut them half way and in 3-4 days they are at the top again. As for the pearling I got it down with the co2 and light now ill take a full tank shot in a few hours when everything is pearling. Lights just kicked on 2 hours ago and only a few have pearling.

Stunning! The pearling going on in your tank is wonderful. The cambomba is sparkling. I am in love with this plant now. Looking at your blyxa being so red is tempting me to turn on the second set of lights. I must resist the urge and live vicariously through you! I am just amazed at the depth you have created. This is something I have been struggling with since day one. Great job!

Some new updates All ottos died :/. Also forgot to add ferts and trace for 2 days and started to get algae on the plants errr. Also what cause the plants to bend? here are some new pictures.
Plants that are bending?
Plants bending 2?
Still don't know what plant this is and is this a ground plant? All I know it grows fast and staying to the ground
Pearling 3 leaf plant sorry for the dust algae on glass Sunday is water change and glass clean

Ugh, sorry to hear about the otos. They are finicky fish. That cambomba is simply amazing. It is really filling in nicely. The plants are bending due to the high light. It is natural in some species. I have found rotala rotundfolia (probably spelling this wrong) really loves to bend like that. I am stunned that you are able to grow your plants so well without more algae to tell you the truth. I couldn't do it and I am jealous. Are you going to put in more otos? I am subscribing to this, so I don't lose track of your pretty tank.

Awesome!~ The tank is beautiful. I love the reds. The proportions are great. It almost looks more like a 40B than a 55, and I mean that as a huge compliment. You did a lot with 12.5" of plantable space. (Is plantable even a word?..haha)

Thanks I been fighting with spot algae on most of the plants, had to take a bunch out all the red plants didn't make it bah. I was dosing high ferts but lowered the dosing think what started it all . Anyway got another Rena filter the xp1 just to power the co2 reactor made some Diy lily pipes.

Got some new tank mates 2 corys not sure what kind but the albino cory loves the jungle of Cabomba you will see why . 2 flame tetra.

Cory playing on the Cabomba

Now the bad part all my Cabomba is green not sure if its from the drop in high ferts still trying to tweak this.

Moved a bunch of things around liked it the other way here are some pictures the 3 leaf covers are growing out of CONTROL I have to cut it ever water change. I know a lot of the plants are just thrown in there I am just trying to get them to grow again.
On that note the Rotala sp is growing again but its not red just green

Also trying to get the 24g aquapod up and running here is a picture mind the gold fish didn't have time to take them back to the pet store
24g
48w t5ho
paintball co2 20oz
xp2
fish 10 flame tetra, 2 ammo shrimp , 2 corys, 4 gold fish will take them back to the store tomorrow .

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